How To Distraction-Proof Your Phone
The other night I sat down to read a book. It was the end of a long workday. I’d already had dinner and made myself a steaming cup of chamomile tea. I was ready to relax and dive into what promised to be a captivating story.
Two pages in: ding. I ignored the sound of my text notification and went back to reading, but I had to re-read the last paragraph to remind myself what was happening.
A couple of minutes later: ding, ding, ding. Ugh–a group text. I got up, checked my phone to make sure it didn’t require my immediate response, and then put my phone on silent for the rest of the evening. Phew.
The average American checked their phone 96 times per day in 2019–roughly every 10 minutes. Among 18 to 25 year olds, that number was twice as high. Today, those numbers are likely even higher.
Combined with the fact that it takes us an average of 23 minutes, 15 seconds to regain focus after being interrupted, our smartphone use can be a death sentence for our ability to be present and focus–whether it’s on a book, a movie, or quality time with our loved ones.
Furthermore, though estimates vary, recent data show Americans are spending about 4 to 6 hours per day on our phones–6 to 8 for Gen Z. That’s a significant chunk of our lives, estimated at 3 months or ¼ of the year.
I know I’m not the only one who’s thought about throwing my iPhone into the Pacific Ocean, or searched eBay for the flip phone Keanu used in The Matrix. As someone who values mindfulness and the ability to do deep work, it’s particularly distressing when I see myself struggling to focus.
But this degradation of our attentional abilities is not our fault. It’s engineered: tech companies have combined a deep knowledge of human psychology and software design to maximize the number of times we check our phones and the amount of time we spend scrolling.
Fortunately, there is a way to make your smartphone far less distracting and reclaim a big chunk of your attention.
Here's my personal formula for nerfing your phone (inspired by Cal Newport’s work on digital minimalism). I challenge you to try it for a week and see the difference for yourself.
In fact, take a look at your phone use stats before making these changes. (Settings → Screen Time on the iPhone, Digital Wellbeing on Android). Take a screenshot. Then come back and look at your stats after a week of this challenge. You may be surprised what a difference it makes, not just to your stats, but to your quality of life. After a week, you can add back in any of the levels below that you feel you can’t live without.
Level 1: Delete all social media apps and games. You can still use them on your computer’s web browser, just not on your phone. This alone will make a huge difference in your phone use.
Level 2: Delete the news app and any other apps you check compulsively, like stock prices or sports scores.
Level 3: Delete your email app.
Level 4: Delete your web browser.
Level 5: change your display to black and white. Candy-colored icons are much more appealing to your brain. Turning them off can make your phone feel surprisingly boring.
At this point, you should basically just be left with phone calls, text/instant messaging, audio (music, podcasts, audiobooks), and maps.
If you do this, you'll feel like you're MacGyver and you just disabled a bomb–a bomb designed to destroy your attentional abilities.
Now, when you want to focus, all you need to do is put your phone on silent and turn it face down on a table or countertop.
You may be wondering, how well has this formula worked for me? Well, it’s been a few years since I completed the full challenge. I ended up adding back in a couple of levels, like email (after going to see a movie and realizing my tickets were in there!). But my average phone time is down to a respectable 1 hour, 20 minutes per day, the vast majority of which is just text messaging.
We’re living in an environment that our 200,000 year old nervous systems are not designed to thrive in, and our phones are part of that environment. But by making a few changes to our devices, we can take back at least some control of our attention and enhance our ability to focus on the things that are important to us.
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